' -. _ " "J w,, : ': ' -" / *", ;' '. ,." 1.' "",.",, ::'1,-r: ::-',; t ":;< ''{ .,$ .. .''-- ' " . , :' .' : , ;:' r , :" , . -- ., '3<," i . ' t .'.. ,'., : .. -'" , ';'"'\: ;, ' . _;' i :; ;;,i : :' ,,;,i:-: : ' y '- <.. . ,> · ' .', <::::::1'. ",' tr. , ' ,: -.i' ": / ' ,-: , , 7 \ \:f l : ," '.. . : '. " , ..: .: '". .1 ".". J- ' -". /" 't\ . ll/ ' , < ,.}lè; ;, >t ' ' , '>:. . ; > "',.' " , " .. "..., .<! <,-' ')} :", . -/.: : .', "r . . .-".".- "." . Jo .- .-: " :":"'. . .,,:,.. . ..... ...". . Þ. t. . : . : :.. _ . . ,' ' : , ', , ; " : '< : ' " .: , r- : ; , ' , "'j., _ . 'i , , " :" , .' :- "' ... , ' , : , .; . :::*" " " , . n To; - , ,; ' " .:.: ' , ", , . , '. : , ,' ,. .. , f . :;,'.':.y .,,:. ''<'''';-'', , , ., >:'<:, i"(' . . :, , . . " , : , ;:;//' ,:. :::;\it \, t, .. ';';;,'i:".: :} . -'-;.0 . . ..... . .<$<. Y , ;"" v, < ,,'. "', ':'j:t#;" :' :,' .' . -'J{." '::, , ,, ,:, : t , : , :: :,< , !:i:- :": .... . 0<,/., ,.- ,- ,',-'Y o . : ;:. ,:' . .. ;- $ . ' .: "::>i . ,,' ; , ; , , , ,:" . :: ";:':'<'; < . . ., -"'t o:t '; '.' ..' . '< < .> , .:;,-<,.' '::, ,: /j .. y';'N'''' ' :':,>:,.;":' . who was in Annan's circle at the Grad- uate Institute of International Studies in Geneva and is now a professor emer- itus there. ' t that time it was a sym- bol, a kind of distinctive sign. It was a Lumumba beard, and many of the young African people had this Lu- mumba beard." Patrice Lumumba, the first (and last) popularly elected leader of the Congo, was killed in January of 1961, and the crisis in the Congo, which triggered one of the first massive and agonized U.N. military interven- tions, dominated the international head- lines, especially when U.N. Secretary- General Dag Hammarskjöld was killed in a plane crash on a diplomatic mission between warring factions there. Both men quickly acquired the status of mar- tyrs, and although Annan now speaks frequently of the influence of Hammar- skjöld, it was Lumumba who captured his imagination at the time. "Lumumba symbolized African nationalism and progressive nation-building-even if he didn't live up to it," Abi-Saab said to me, and he recalled with passion those days when Third Worldism and the nonaligned movement-"a kind of pro- gressive open nationalism"-were in the air. "That was the context in which we met," he said of Annan, and he - x ".Å < .. ''''' 1" > .t.: ' .', \.; '" tJ . r . , , ' '>t''' "". ,< .;: ;: . . . ".. "'. l<' > -, ':';"'.A' :' : ' ,; . , 0.;, ' " . n:. .... ' . Ji": "'.. ....:....; ,', A:,' ',,', '" .. . . . . ,.-....... . .... ":. . ." ::. - ... ... .} . t . : ." --=:<: ...... . :." h' "t.:,,'. : .. )y. yo ." ' >,.I', added, "It was a period of euphoric op- timism among young people of the Third World, who thought they could change their countries and participate in changing the world. That was the general atmosphere, and he was very much in that trend." Abi-Saab, who described himself as "a bit of a purist" in political mat- ters, is impressed that Annan kept his beard. Few Mricans from that period did, and he likes to think the facial hair means that the Secretary-General has remained loyal to the ideals of his youth. But the more he talked, the more it be- came clear that Abi-Saab was unsure exactly where Annan had stood in the politically charged debates of their stu- dent days: "He could perceive what oth- ers say, and perhaps with hindsight I'd say also what others want. Most of us have our sympathies and antipathies. Kofi, on the other hand, was someone who was on good terms with everybody. And this proved to be a great asset for him. I thought, and I still believe, he had his own convictions, and he believed in them and so forth. But he was not very aggressive in expressing them or defend- ing them in a way that hurt the others. He always had a very smooth touch." Abi-Saab allowed that memory can ' '; .ø ., , ,,"%<..,'" "I'm sure 'till death do you part' was only an estimate. " be distorted by intervening impres- sions, and he said, "We were all much more passionate then. Life somehow cools you down." But he wondered whether a life spent in the U.N., a sys- tem that exists in the name of princi- ple yet survives by compromise, might not be especially cooling, and he said of Annan, "Remember that he spent from 1962-forty years-in the ma- chine, and he has been a consummate user of the machine as well as being part of it." When I told Annan that I'd spoken to Abi-Saab, he remembered the heated debates-about "how we were going to change the world"-with his bearded friends in Geneva. "It was sort of the folly and dreams of the young," he said, and once again he spoke of his disap- pointment in the betrayed promises of independence. "There was disillusion- ment in the sense that we could have done much better," he said. "We could have given our people a much better life and we failed them. I mean, when you take my own country at the time of independence, we had in economic terms about the same situation as Ma- laysia. We had almost the same amount of reserves in the bank, and you look at where Malaysia is today and where Ghana is today, and I say it's a question of instability and mismanagement." Like so many bold liberation leaders, Nkru- mah was a bad president. The mono- mania that had served him in revolution translated, when he sat in the state- house, into dictatorship and unhappi- ness for Ghana: a cult of personality, a clampdown on free expression, eco- nomic decline, extreme corruption, and finally; in 1966, while Nkrumah was on a state visit to China, a military coup. He died in exile in 1972, and returned home in a coffin. Annan didn't leave Ghana to escape misrule. A chance encounter had pre- sented him with an opportunity, and he told himself he would return better prepared to help his country: He went to Geneva in the same spirit. He had no political aspirations, nor did he impress those who met him and admired him as notably ambitious. His mind was prac- tical; in pursuing his degrees in eco- nomics, he anticipated following his fa- ther into the business world. But, as his own scope broadened during his stu-